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WATERLOO CHRONICLE Carolyn Anstey Amy Hachborn Circulation Manager _ Circulation 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J IP2 (A division of Southam Inc.) Publisher: Cal Bosveld 886â€"2830 Fax: 8B6â€"9383 Eâ€"mail: wchronicle@sentex.net The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a division of Southam Inc. The views of our columists are their own and do not necessarily represent that of the newspaper yearly in Canada, outside Canada. â€" International Standard Sersal Number Mailed subscription rate: The Waterioo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editar They should be signed with name, address and phone num ber and wall be verified for acon racy. No unsigned letters will be published: Submissions may be edited for length. so please be bmief Copyright in letters and nther materials submitted in the Publisher and accepted for publcanion remains with the author. but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print. electramic ar other frrms. Our mailing address is 75 King St S Simte 201. Waterion N2L IP2, our e mail address is wehromcle@sentex net . and our fax number is RAK 9381 Letters Policy im Alexander Gerry Mattice Direcior of Sales Supervisor Advertising Andrea Bailey Bob Vibanac Norma Cyca Bill Karges Advertising Advertising ~anadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number Audited circulation Reporter _ Sports Editor [SSN 0832â€"3410 136379 Deborah Crandall Editor $90 yearly 26,056 Yeah, yeah. 1 was fully aware of all the health risks invoived, but I was willing to takes me chances in exchange for the pleasure of the smoke. So why quit now? Well, I got a cold a couple of weeks ago. It moved int0 | m my chest and aggravated a . | WR n 45| respiratory _problem i‘ve RBMO NSIEN zre:g denying for some | THING... | ay God have mercy on the souls of those Mwho have foolishly strayed into my path this week. For 1 have quit smoking and am as ornery as a bear with a sore. .. But seriously folks, I did it. I quit! YAY ME! Can you believe it? I can hardly believe it myself. Mostly because I didn‘t plan to quit. 1 like smoking, which I‘ve done for about a quarter of a century â€" with the exception of a twoâ€"year puffâ€"free period when I was pregnant with and then nursing Jesse. And over the years, 1 really haven‘t put much thought or effort into quitting. The problem began a few years ago as an irritatâ€" ing, hacking cough and has progressed to the point where 1 experience spells in which 1 gasp and wheeze and simply can‘t catch my breath. Charming, eh? When the chest cold hit me, I decided to take DEBORAH the old boy‘s advice and CRANDALL "put the butts away for a couple of days." But when a couple of days turned into three, then four and so on, I decided to pitch them altogether. It‘s been 10 days now, and my physician (hi Dr. Traviss) tells me I‘ve got a couple of weeks of nicotine withdrawal yet to endure. After I‘ve broken the addiction, I‘ll deal with breaking the habit of smoking. So as the 12â€"steppers say, one day at a time. But in the meantime, get the hell out of my way. 1 mean it. You don‘t want to be crossing me right now, as a few unfortunates have discovered all too well. For example, this week 1 expressed displeasure over a certain matter to an individual employed at a local high school. Then I called the board office to further, um, express my concerns over the matter. Now on a normal day, in a perfect world where smoking has no ill effects and one can puff away until one‘s heart‘s content, I might have let the matâ€" ter go with little more than a bit of grumbling to myself and a few coâ€"workers. That not being the case, Ulet‘er rip. I vented. U held nothing back. The next day l was showered with gifts and apology notes. and that made me feel rather guilty because the gestures weren‘t necessary, although very much appreciated. Anyway, the point is, my wrath was felt Similarly, a candidate (who shall remain nameâ€" less} in the upcoming municipal election foolishly wandered into the office this week and accused me of giving free advertising to other candidates. He pointed to the article on page three of last week‘s Chronicle which introduced a couple of new candiâ€" dates. When I explained to him that the article was a ‘news‘ story and not at all advertising, he tald me [ could call it whatever I wanted â€" it was still free advertising. Oh, and he said I was full of crap. Boy, did he pick a bad week to get into it with yours truly But I think we‘ve finally got the blood stains out of the carpet 1 have a feeling that hefore the worst is aver, those who‘ve been pestering me to quit for years will be begging me to light up It‘s pretty much been like that all week â€" me ready to blow, while family, friends and coâ€"workers sheepishly tipâ€"toe around me That‘s it. I quit! VIEWPOINT >\ "many & _ ma» #Bo q Q&gs\ . 7 amocne! Arftantnt i % N sfi*@ e N 2 P & \ B u‘ Ar JX _ P We‘re tapped, but not for water itchener councillors must be smoking B something illegal if they‘re seriously onsidering a $60â€"million aquatic cen â€" tre in downtown Kitchener. "A worldâ€"class" facility is supposed to emerge and all it will take is $15 million in taxpayer money. There are a dozen good reasons for not getting involved in the project. Among them is the fact that this community has no affiniâ€" ty for water. That‘s why Oktoberfest has its home here. As Time Goes By: This is belated, just like the Waterloo Region district school board decision it describes. You have to say this about the board: When it does someâ€" thing right, it usually is belated. This time the board fired a teacher who was acquitted early in May of sexual exploitation. However, he admitted he may have had improper conversations with stuâ€" dents. The acquittal is under appeal. The higher levels of government would pay an additional $15 million, and then they‘d pass the hat for another $9 million. Anyhow, the board should have canned him months ago. The board delayed previously in a similar case. A convicted teacher was kept on the paytoll for months. In each case, there was no reason the board could not have acted promptly and canned the accused. Any doubleâ€"talk about having to keep silent because of the pending appeal is eyewash. It‘s again a case of moving too slowly. Come to think of it, there are a lot of procrastinators around. They even say that a group of them is organizing a Stop Diefenbaker movement! Who do they support in the continuing impasse between teachers and government? Neither. They said the government has been sometimes wrongâ€"headed and usually artro gant. The teachers, they said. are getting bad advice from their union Taking Sides: My dizzying round of activities in the past week or so has by chance found me conversing with retired high school teachers Most of them agreed that most of the teachers feel as badly about the EORSTCE SANDY BAIRD And here‘s a tip for the rebel student leadâ€" ers. Choose, if you can, your TV spakespeoâ€" ple more carefully: Too often the kids talking on TV sounded rougher than $2 hatel towels. impasse as does almost anybody. They could stand some lessons in civility. Mere abuse doesn‘t make for real discourse. Trying to reason with them would be like pla&ng handbal;;xéainsl a blanket. ortar Board: A British professor was visiting the community for the first time in many, many, many years, and he was surâ€" prised by the activity around the universiâ€" ties. I‘ve always been particularly pleased by where they put the optometry building. They truly picked a site for sore eyes. _ Eins, Zwei... Ready or not, Oktoberfest is on its way. In a little more than a week, you‘ll start to get weary of hearing Ein Prosit. Or maybe you‘re not among us creaking n and crotchety, and really welâ€" , J come the festival. Presumably )\\ [R you also like rowdy picnics. ll Y j calorieâ€"crowded food, tooâ€"loud * music and getting your hiccups § sturred. Said he: "There‘d been so much that I was confused about exactly where I was. My, it‘s impressive." o DYy But to all who revel in Oktoberfest. 1 wish them the D funâ€"packed festival days and mornings free of the thudding which usually comes after an evening in which you tried to play a pizza on the stereo High Octane: With petrol prices climbing, it‘s a wonder there haven‘t been more thefts of gasoline from cars. The older folk will remember back in wartime when a lot of gas tanks had locks to foil the folks who preferred the five â€"finger discount Still. siphoning gas was hardly a picnic Swallow a gulp of gas and you felt as if one of your pistons was missing. You‘ve heard of car sickness Of course, that‘s taking the vinegary approach to the great Bavarian beer bash. Anyhow, you can get used to seeing the gals in their festive finery and the men in their buttocksâ€"hugging ledethosen They can‘t be comfortable